Sunday, August 14, 2016

Mennonite Church Canada Resolution on Israel-Palestine Work of Winnipeg Couple

The behind-the-scenes work of a Winnipeg couple paid off last
month when delegates to the Mennonite Church assembly in Saskatoon supported a
resolution to promote “a just peace between Palestinians and Israelis.”

“We really didn’t know what would happen,” says Byron Rempel-Burkholder,
59, who created the resolution with support from his wife, Melita, 61.

“We were surprised by the positive response.”

The couple, who are members of Home Street Mennonite Church, had
been concerned about the plight of people in Palestine for many years. But it
was a short term assignment in Bethlehem from January to April this year that
compelled them to act.

“It is hard to live in the West Bank without feeling outraged seeing the wall,
and the humiliations the Palestinians endure at checkpoints,” says Byron.

“For us the issue is justice. The occupation can’t be justified on the basis of
human rights.”

While there, the two served at Bethlehem Bible College, where Melita helped
with grant writing and Byron did communications and driving—it is
easier for a foreigner to get through checkpoints to pick up mail, do
deliveries and airport runs, he explains.

During their time in Palestine they heard stories of how difficult the
occupation and the separation wall makes life for Palestinians.

This included one family who had been separated from their olive orchard when
the wall was built.

Their home was on one side, in Palestinian territory, and their
olive trees were on the Israeli-controlled side of the wall. To harvest their
crop, they have to apply for permits to cross the wall.

“They applied for permits to go pick their crop, but only their grandfather
received permission to cross,” says Melita. “As a result, they lost the whole
harvest.”

These stories, plus pleas from Palestinian Christians to share about their
plight when they returned to Canada, prompted them to want to find ways to act.

One way they decided to try to do something was by asking their denomination to
support a resolution calling on that church to support efforts to create peace
in the region.

A similar resolution had been debated at the last Mennonite
Church Canada assembly, in 2014, but had been tabled. When Byron asked
leadership in the church if it was coming back to the floor this year, he was
told no—nobody had proposed it.

“So we did,” he says.

The resolution, which the couple worked on with other members of their
denomination, was moved by Byron at the assembly.

It calls on the over 30,000 members in 225 congregations to
commit themselves to find they ways they are “impeding or facilitating,
ignoring or promoting, the quest for a just peace between Palestinians and
Israelis.

The resolution affirms “the efforts of Israelis and Palestinians
who are committed to non-violent ways of overcoming the injustice in their
region” and asks churches and members to “avoid investing in or supporting
companies that do business with Israeli settlements and the Israel Defense
Forces, and companies that are profiting from the occupation of the Palestinian
territories.”

It goes on to encourage the Canadian government to “support measures that put
pressure on Israel (including through economic sanctions) to end the occupation
and work for a just peace, in accordance with international law.”

Finally, it also recognizes and laments “the suffering of Israeli citizens” and
commits the church to work with both Canadian Jewish and Palestinian
communities to find a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

The resolution passed with one just one dissenting vote.

“Our goal is not to be anti-Israel,” says
Melita of their efforts to get the resolution to the floor of the assembly. “We
aren’t against the state of Israel, or its existence.”

Instead, the couple says the resolution should
be viewed as pro-Israel in that it seeks to hold that nation up to the
standards of both international law, and to the words of the prophets of the
Old Testament.

“This resolution is about supporting
Palestinians in a nonviolent quest for self-determination, justice and a
peaceful coexistence with their Israeli neighbors,” says Byron.

“We feel responsible for what we heard when we
were in Bethlehem,” he adds. “The church in Palestine is looking for support.
We are trying to be a voice for them.”